Revs search for rebound
Seek road victory in KC
To paraphrase another Gillette Stadium-based coach, the Revolution are on to Kansas City.
The Revs have little choice to do otherwise in the wake of Wednesday night’s 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Atlanta United in front of a crowd of 42,511 at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in their first meeting against the expansion club.
The Revs were down to nine men by game’s end after video replay resulted in red cards issued to midfielder Xavier Kouassi (eighth minute, unsporting behavior) and defender Antonio Delamea (38th minute, denial of obvious goal-scoring opportunity). Kouassi initially appeared headed for a foul before video replay intervened. Later, Atlanta was about to line up for a corner kick when video replay led to Delamea being sent off.
Revs coach Jay Heaps had difficulty putting into words his reaction over the lopsided loss.
“First and foremost, we have to move on to the next game. A lot of it was out of our control. The mindset has to be that we’re on to Kansas City and how quickly we can get to the next game,” Heaps said yesterday by phone from Kansas City, where the team was set to close out its two-game road set tonight at Children’s Mercy Park.
“It was a helpless feeling and speechless feeling. After the game it was tough to process it. I don’t think that it will be the last game you’ll see like that where they take a longer look at it. The referee rules it one way and then they look at it a little longer and reverse it. That’s the way the game is going,” said Heaps, who has publicly supported video replay in the past.
It was the seventh time in club history that the Revs had two players sent off in a match. The manpower deficit was a big reason why they failed to post a shot on goal.
“We had a lot of guys we couldn’t get into the game because of the situation. We wanted to have a deep bench (against Atlanta). So, we feel we have a lot of rested guys (for Kansas City),” Heaps said.
Heaps was asked if some lineup changes were in store in the wake of the midweek debacle.
“We’re still assessing right now. We’re sitting down with players and I think that there will be changes for (tonight),” Heaps said. “(Kansas City) is a very good team, a very good team at home. Also, they have guys that have been together for a while and they’ve added some good pieces. We have big test ahead of us.”
Heaps said the entire program has to look in the mirror.
“Every time you step on the field, you’re fighting for your job. That’s coaches and players. But if we look too far forward you lose sight of what’s in front of you, and that’s this next game with Kansas City,” Heaps said.
Midfielder Lee Nguyen agreed the defeat was difficult to absorb.
“Absolutely, that was a tough one to swallow there, because the odds were against us from the get-go,” said Nguyen. “Now, we have (tonight) to prepare for, so we know we’ve got to move on quickly . ... It’s great to have a game (tonight) to move past that and we have to refocus on Kansas City now.”
The Revs (10-13-5) sit eighth in the Eastern Conference standings with 35 points, five behind the New York Red Bulls for the sixth and final playoff spot with six matches left. But Heaps’ crew is the only winless MLS team on the road this season, now 0-11-3 after Wednesday night’s stomping in Atlanta.
One positive for the Revs is a 5-2-3 record against Western Conference squads. The Revs have taken 4-of5 meetings from Sporting since the start of the 2014 season, but KC owns an unbeaten record at home this season (8-0-5). Sporting (10-6-11) enters tonight’s match fourth in the West, only three points behind first place Vancouver, but have won just one of their last five league matches. They also have Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup final against the Red Bulls on the immediate horizon.
Tonight will mark a homecoming of sorts for three Revs forwards as Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury and Krisztian Nemeth previously played for Kansas City. On the opposite sideline, Sporting midfielder Benny Feilhaber (five goals, three assists) began his MLS career with the Revs, while defender Seth Sinovic was a 2010 draft pick and made 20 appearances (18 starts) during his brief time with the Revs.